For our more experienced Investigating Vernal Pools teachers/parents/partners, who know just what they are looking for, here are quick-access links to our documents, forms, and videos.
Documents
- 2023 Investigating Vernal Pools Field Trip Schedule
- Directions to Splash Center
- Investigating Vernal Pool Field Trip Instructions for Chaperones
- Instructions for Growing Fairy Shrimp
- Preparing for Your Investigating Vernal Pools Field Trip
- Investigating Vernal Pools Program Curriculum Standards Alignment
- Investigating Vernal Pools: Glossary (Appendix A)
FORMs
- Investigating Vernal Pools: Join our Waitlist
- Investigating Vernal Pools: Materials Loan Agreement
- Investigating Vernal Pools: Teacher Expectations Agreement
- Apply for an Extracurricular Program
- Request for Materials
Videos
This is a short documentary about Klaus Kemp, master of the Victorian art of diatom arrangement. Diatoms are single cell algae that create jewel-like glass shells around themselves. Microscopists of the Victorian era would arrange them into complex patterns, invisible to the naked eye but spectacular when viewed under magnification. Klaus Kemp has devoted his entire life to understanding and perfecting diatom arrangement and he is now acknowledged as the last great practitioner of this beautiful combination of art and science. THE DIATOMIST showcases his incredible work. Produced by Matthew Killip, soundtrack by Ryuichi Sakamoto, Bernard Hermann and Cults Percussion Ensemble.
Much of the food web action in wet phase vernal pools happens on a microscopic level. This video features clips of several aquatic species making a living in a vernal pool. Those clips are accessible through the individual critter accounts but the video in its entirety is available here. Check out these amazing videos of the tiny critters that live in vernal pools, shot by the late, great Bruce Russell of BioMEDIA Associates.
Take an 8-minute tour of the Mather Field vernal pools! The area featured in this video is prohibited to the public, so this is your chance to explore it virtually. It was filmed in late March during the pools’ transition into the flowering phase. Enjoy!
Explore the Mather Field vernal pool grassland preserve with a Splash nature guide! Discover the diversity of animals and plants that call this unique ecosystem home. Take a tour through the three phases of the vernal pools: wet phase in winter, flowering phase in spring, and dry phase in summer and fall. This video was made possible by support from the National Geographic Society.
Take this brief video journey with the students through the microscopes at Splash and discover the hidden world of vernal pools! This video is dedicated to Eva Butler, Founder of Sacramento Splash, who’s vision and passion has led to tens of thousands of children in the Sacramento, CA region getting off the pavement, away from screens, and into nature! This video was made possible by support from the National Geographic Society, Bill Null and Lauren Thaler.
Clip of Streamed Content – Day #29
Enjoy a video about one of the birds that hang around the grasslands in Mather Field, the Killdeer. David Rosen takes us along to find, observe and study this wading bird.
Watch Huell Howser discover vernal pools for the first time at Mather Field. After years of receiving letters asking him to visit California’s unique temporary wetlands, Huell interviews vernal pool experts Eva Butler, Aimee Rutledge and Carol Witham for answers. Huell takes a field trip through wet and flowering vernal pools, uncovering their important history and role in our natural world.
What is Sacramento Splash? – original version
Learn about what Sacramento Splash is and does from the mouths of the founder, Eva Butler, and the former Executive Director, Emily Butler.
This is your starting point for delivering Splash’s virtual lessons! This will give students an overview of the rare and unique vernal pool habitat right in their backyard! Please show this video to your students to kick off the program, and show it again later to reinforce the concepts.
Take a virtual tour of our local Sacramento River watershed, learn about where our drinking water comes from and where our wastewater goes. Discover the diversity of life in our creeks and rivers and learn ways to be the solution to stormwater pollution. Splash is an environmental education nonprofit that helps children understand and value the natural world. This video was made possible by support from the National Geographic Society.
Take a virtual tour of our local Sacramento River watershed, learn about where our drinking water comes from and where our wastewater goes. Discover the diversity of life in our creeks and rivers and learn ways to be the solution to stormwater pollution. Splash is an environmental education nonprofit that helps children understand and value the natural world. This video was made possible by support from the National Geographic Society.
Students will learn about the use of microscopes and explore live aquatic organisms in a virtual tour of the “microscope station” which they would normally visit on their in-person field trip at Splash. This video showcases magnified images and videos of freshwater invertebrates, insect larvae, crustaceans and tadpoles so students can feel as though they are looking through the microscopes themselves.
This video offers step-by-step instructions for making an origami book, which students make as part of Lesson 11 of the Splash Investigating Vernal Pools curriculum. Students decorate them with fun facts about vernal pools and drawings of the animals, plants, and landscape features they have studied or encountered in the field. Beyond this use, origami books can be a fun art project to document or summarize any subject or experience.